Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Minsc

What kind of character he will be in Larian's vision?

As for my opinion, depending on the narrative with the petrification he has suffered, I'd say:
While he was petrified, his arms were broken by vandals in Baldur's gate, it's canon (later returned and statue fixed, but who knows what kind of internal damage has been suffered in the process). It is one way to explain his loss of combat ability (becoming low-level). Although it would be probably more correct to surmise that he fixed that problem already, somehow (by finding someone who was able to Regenerate his torn out arms, considering it is Beloved Ranger we are speaking of).

Another issue to think of is his mental state:
Being petrified for some decades could lead to a total stasis-like state (although the 5e rules don't say that), or he could have been subjected to a worse, bitter fate of someone devoid of senses yet conscious.
That could lead to various side effects - Minsc wasn't very sane to start with, so anything could happen. It would not be too foolish to think he had some decades to think and grow up in many ways, except that his body lost all his accumulated combat experience, of course.

It can potentially lead to a very deep and interesting character if Larian would allow themselves to go high and reach long.

I just wanna bang him

Would be very strange not to make him a straight guy, by the way, with his Rashemen culture and upbringing. They can change this too, of course, according to modern agenda, but wouldn't it be a bad taste.

I'm pretty sure they said all companions will be rommanceable by all races and genders. And jokes aside, I think in this case it's a very poor decision unless they will manage to make it some sort of humourous romance.

I think it's essentially official that Minsc will be in the game. In what capacity though, that's another story.

As much I took him in my parties more often than Edwin, since he's a good lad and a powerful melee fighter, I find him to be a bit of a one-trick-pony comedic character. Like Jan Jansen. Edwin was better in my opinion.

At any rate, I hope Larian doesn't take a page from JJ Abram's book, i.e. "why bother with writing a good story when you can ride on nostalgic references ?". I think we've seen enough of that in the recent Star Wars to know it doesn't work.

I'd be happy if Minsc makes a cameo appearance as someone we can talk to, no more. Or perhaps someone we can be with for a fight (like Wyll at the Druid Grove's gate, or Halsin). Or perhaps we can take him as proper party member, but just for a short mission. Basically, I'm not hoping for him to be a companion. Even less a romanceable character. But well, what do I know ? Maybe Larian can make him interesting and have him be part of the story in a well-written way.

If were not given the option to become his witch, what are we doing here really?

As for his character, what character exactly? He's had really one mode, with Dynaheir being the yang to his yin, and consider BG:2 even that was lost. Though I remember playing a Minsc quest from one of the restored content mods that was interesting, I'm not sure about it's imprimatur

Minsc has a series of comic books. He is still just Minsc.

“Minsc, the legendary Ranger do-gooder with a heart of gold, brain of lead, and hamster of pronounced wisdom.”

Don’t expect him to be any different in BG3.

There is no reason why Minsc couldn’t or shouldn’t be gay if the player wants to romance him.

We'll see

I actually find it weird when every character is hero-sexual in a game, as for Minsc, I've never seen him as anything other than asexual, I'm even a little put off by the idea, but I haven't met the new and improved one yet so who can say.

Don't you think it would be dull to beat this petrified horse... again, after BGI&II?
He may be the old good companion he always was, but comic relief dialog would not look good with the current plot. It's not a swashbuckling adventure at all, even compared to BG II storyline and theme.

As for "if the player wants to romance" I'm of an opposite view, it's character inconsistency for me, in this case. When an NPC can have any kind of romance on a PC's whim, it makes the NPC less believable.

For me a romance with Minsc would just be wrong -- morally wrong -- because the big guy is so dumb I don't believe he could take care of himself on his own. He's too easily manipulated. His witch is essentially his case worker / custodian.

Also, there's also just not that much there there. The head wound was something of blank slate for me.


There's also the fact that Minsc's backstory -- according to the writer who first rolled him up -- isn't as pleasant as the character we had in the game. He was a ranger who used hamsters to trip traps. At one the point the DM declared that Minsc had taken on a form of madness and that he now loved the hamster he intended to use as trap bait. And silliness ensued . . .

BG2 opens after you and your sister have just been brutally tortured, your souls ripped from your bodies, and 2 of your companions murdered. I don’t find the tone of BG3 to be at all inconsistent with the previous games. Balancing thematically bleak stories with Dungeons and Dragons style absurdity for comic relief has always been a part of the series, so Minsc is not out of place. I don’t think having Minsc as he was in BG1 and 2 would be dull. I’m looking forward to it.

How would Minsc being gay be inconsistent? Inconsistent with what? I don’t think there is any indication that he is straight in the first games.

Concerning relation to previous BG's and comic relief - we'll see how Larian will handle that. Some prefer a bit more salt in their food, others differently. But generally, players respect dialog quality, even if it's not completely to one's taste, aren't they?

Minsc is Rashemen. Rashemen as people are very close to Russians; "domovoi", "samovar" and many other relations show that.
Gay relationships were always a shame in Russian tradition (and the most surrounding territories).

Imagine that people living in Russia correspond somewhat with Minsc' portrayal and would not be glad to see him gay. It is as with Muslim people being called gay.
So yes, would not be a good choice to go this way with character development. Unless you want to offend because you wanted some liberty for your game character. There are always such things to consider (if you want to go that deep).

Besides, there is simply character consistency going back to BG 1 and 2. Why even thinking of banging with the Rashemi ranger? He is into hamsters and fighting evil, and prefers talking to nice people, being eager and honest. That's how he was portrayed and how he would be seen - unless changed by Larian. It would take real skill to make his romance a good one, believable.

Haven't seen this post. Well said.

But maybe - maybe - he got his brain fixed after his biggest trouble with being petrified for decades. That is the ground for improvisation here for the writers, isn't it?

First of all, while I’m far from an expert, a cursory bit of Googling indicates that you are likely wrong about homosexuality being “always a shame in Russia.” It appears that homosexuality was openly accepted in Russia until the Europeanizaton of the 17th century.

But that is beside the point because Rashemen, while being inspired by Russia, is not Russia, so WotC can give that society whatever attitudes they want towards homosexuality.

And that still is beside the point because even cultures that condemn homosexuality still have gay people, so nothing in the Rashemen cultural attitude precludes Minsc being gay.

I’m pretty sure that most people in Russia don’t care one iota about a character from a fantasy land loosely based on Russsia in a video game being optionally gay.

I with you here, a lot of comedy can be very tragic if you treat it seriously, for instance if I remember correctly Minsc's behavior is the result of massive head trauma, right?

I also think the inconsistency people are talking about comes from how asexual he comes across as, by which I mean his child-like behavior, not whether or not he's gay or straight.

Don't ask Google. I'm Russian and I know the history, mindset and traditions of my country well enough. Let's stop at that, please. Any Russian still living in the country can support my claim.

As well as the fact that a lot of Russian gamers I personally know do count Rashemi as a somewhat-related people.

And we aren't talking about most people in Russia, just those who are interested already/could be interested. By no means I'm saying I know it all, but I would not have said anything about that inconsistency if I wasn't sure.

WotC and Hasbro can do whatever they want. As did V5 VtM. Look how it's turned about after mentioning Checnhya: https://www.polygon.com/2018/11/16/18098929/white-wolf-controversy-paradox-interactive-new-ceo

It would be not a nice thing to offend people and their culture, when you can easily be more diplomatic toward the whole case and people's beliefs and feelings.

@Sozz yes, that captures it. Agreed, for me Minsc is asexual.

And @Ellenhard -- it is possible of course. I haven't read the comic books but I've heard that it's also not clear if statue Minsc or some wild magic gone really really off.